And
another thing . . .
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Gratitudes: Bruce. The E Street Band. Mom and Dad for giving me the tickets as a birthday gift. Steve for going with me and having the concert meet and exceed his expectations.
Random and Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness Letting several people get in front of us in the parking garage last night. Steve's RAK today was he treated us to breakfast at a new little restaurant we found.
Other Art Gallery
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Wednesday, March 12, 2003
It was perfect. Just perfect.
I had a "moment" as I like to say, before we even left the house. I had thought I might shed a tear of happiness at the concert, but I decided to get an early start and do it at home apparently. I was telling Simon how meaningful this concert was to me. Bruce is the one consistent musical experience throughout my adulthood. The soundtrack of my life, if you will. Why yes, I do have a flair for the dramatic, don't I? Steve and I arrived an hour early because we wanted to allow for traffic, parking, getting seated. It was the first time I've been to the Blue Cross Arena since it's been renovated and I would not have recognized the place. (You know, it really is hell gettin' old when your memory goes all to shit. I can't remember anything. When was the last time I was at that facility? What was the last concert I saw and where? It's times like this I regret my lack of sentimentality. If I'd at least kept the ticket stubs, etc. I could look these things up. I'm keeping these stubs from last night and in fact, I'm thinking of scrapbooking more of my life. You know, in my spare time.) I made all kinds of mental notes in the 2 hours we had to wait for the show to start. (They started an hour late. Somehow I had in my head that although concerts are notorious for starting late, Bruce isn't like that. I crack me up.) Looking through binoculars with bifocals proved to be a little challenging. Not expecting it to work, I tried the binoculars without my glasses - perfect! Such a smart cookie am I, with my glasses chain, eh? Easy on, easy off. There was quite an age range present. I particularly noticed how many people brought their teenagers, because I'd strongly considered taking Simon with us. I really wanted him to experience a truly great rock concert. But ultimately, I decided there was no way he could love it as much as I wanted him to. One little gripe out of him would have made me unhappy. However, I still think he would have enjoyed the overall experience, especially watching his middle-aged mom shake her groove thing. Steve and I elected ourselves row captains because not one person in our row showed up until after 7:30, the time the concert was to begin. Jeez. (Row captains is from a routine by some comedian. Jerry Seinfeld? Robert Klein? George Carlin? I'll never remember.)
Here comes a mini rant. I've ranted about cell phones before, even though several people made good points about them. And I'll retract all I've said once Simon starts driving this fall. New York State has a law making it illegal to talk on a phone while driving unless you have a hands-free setup. Every time I drive my car, I see multiple people talking on their phone while driving. My question is: what's up with cell phones at a concert?? I'm now officially over the hill because I find myself saying all the time, "Who are these people talking to?" I can tell you who The Blue People (in the row in front of us) were talking to. They spent a goddamn half hour calling their friends in section 213, trying to get them to wave to them. Who gives a flying . . . ? How could anyone hear anything on a phone anyway? I just read some audience reviews online and one guy mentioned the abundance of cell phones too, so guess I'm not alone in my thoughts. (The Blue People also did something I hadn't seen before. They brought a big black plastic garbage bag and put their coats in it and stuffed it under their seats. Not a bad idea really, just seemed kind of quirky.) Anyone who knows me, knows I'm just a tad anal about punctuality. I kept thinking that if all these socializers would just sit the heck down and the cell phoners would turn off their phones and pagers (like the public address system asked them to, twice) - that the band would come on stage. I know that had nothing to do with anything but these people were really harshing my mellow. (Sorry, that phrase popped into my head last night and I just had to use it. It amuses me.) So I just decided to relax and enjoy the people watching. (For instance, The Fringe People were interesting and sat in the same row with The Blue People.)
There is not enough money in the world to pay me to work as one of those lighting people that climbs up those chain ladders into the rafters to run the spotlights. Yikes. I spent some time wondering what it's like to be a roadie. I watched these men and women, thinking that's their job. Very different from my job - or anyone's job I know. I even wonder what it's like to be the band and travel all over the world and perform the same songs over and over - as your job? The band always seems to have a good time and really enjoy themselves. I guess if you're ever having a down night, you could just think about how much money you're making and that would probably put a smile on your face.
Before the concert, I was thinking I wanted to remember every song they did, but I didn't want to bother with writing it down. Then I remembered I'd seen at BruceSpringsteen.net that they posted the set list from each concert. Here's what they played last night. No Surrender First Encore: Second Encore:
I'm really glad I became pretty familiar with The Rising before the show. In fact, I like it more every time I hear it. I hadn't paid much attention to 9/11 related music until this. Everyone is right - this is very soulful, tasteful, meaningful music. They played for 2-1/2 hours, just as I'd read somewhere. Back in the day, they would play 3 to 3-1/2 hours, you know. He's famous for multiple encores. Even though it's listed as 2 encores, he stages it so it feels like 3 or 4. He's always done this comedic thing with Clarence & Steven - should we play - should we leave? The crowd goes wild. I was very impressed with the large screens. I think the only other time I've seen a concert with the big screens was Tina Turner - and I seem to remember the picture was kind of grainy. This had great production values; clear and sharp, overlapping images. Artsy but not too much. It was just like watching it on TV, which I don't think is a bad thing anymore. I could see all the stage with the exception of Roy Bittan, to the far right. Oh - and Patty was home sick! But man, Soozie Tyrell can hold her own - I've said before, she's a fantastic addition. So I alternated between watching the stage, watching through binoculars and watching the big screen for facial expressions and other close ups. Steve was especially grateful for the screen because he has quite poor vision and he was able to enjoy a lot more because of it. Let's see. If you forced me to nitpick, it would be that I would have liked to have heard Thunder Road and Jungleland. And 10th Avenue Freeze Out. (Can you tell Born to Run is my all time favorite album?) But I can balance that out by saying I absolutely loved hearing Blinded by the Light. It looked like Bruce forgot some of the words and Little Steven VanZandt was cracking up. If you know that song, you know it's very wordy. He talked about that being his only #1 hit - and Manfred Mann took it to #1. But he didn't so much mind that they changed the lyrics from "cut loose like a deuce" to "wrapped up like a douche". Funny story. And I honestly thought Bruce had a bunch of # 1 hits. Just in my mind, I guess. As far as wondering if Simon would have enjoyed the show, I was just thinking that he's probably more familiar with this music than I think, having heard it for all of his 15 years. In fact, he and I have been known to belt out the chorus of Blinded by the Light a time or ten. (We do some Garth Brooks songs pretty well too, but that's another story for another day.) Loved Badlands. A lot. Loved Backstreets. Was surprised by Bobby Jean - love that one too. I still have Mary's Place bouncin' around my noggin. We all stood the whole time with about 2 exceptions - when he did slower songs. Not bad for a bunch of old arthritic geezers with bad feet, huh? It was a teeny bit smoky but not bad. Monroe County has some tough no smoking laws but we weren't sure if they would pertain to an arena like that. The parking garage was another story. All the buttheads had to leave the arena first, as soon as the show ended, to go have the cigarette they'd been craving for 3 hours. My very favorite part of the concert? The 2 or 3 times that I closed my eyes, surrounded by the songs I love best, thinking, "This is me, feeling totally in the moment, totally happy." At the very end, when everyone was still going nuts, I actually waved at Bruce and said thank you.
You can read this here if you are interested. Interestingly, the online article has a different photograph. It turns out we walked right past this reporter. We saw her taking notes and heard a man saying just what she wrote above, so that's how we know it was her. I remember thinking I would hate to be interviewed. But then again in this circumstance, I have a lot to say! Steve said it would have made a good "hook", being my birthday and all.
The review is not available online. If anyone is interested in reading this, I'd be happy to email it to you.
I'm happy to report I've experienced no post-concert letdown, like I expected. But I do find I'm in my usual post-concert mode of not wanting to listen to his music just yet. I want to let the concert marinate in my brain for a while longer. Plus I listened to a lot of Bruce prior to the show. A fine time was had by all.
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